Week of 1/26/09 - 1/30/09

HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF 1/26/09-1/30/09 IN MRS. BELL’S CLASSROOM

Mrs. Bell’s Reading Class

Spelling

This week will review our ten previous vocabulary words. Students will be responsible for vocabulary definitions. We will use some engaging in-class review games to help prepare students for their final test on the Friday, January 30th.

Reading - Clarifying

We will continue our small group study of the novel, Night of the Twisters.

“Bite into a Good Book” – Independent Reading Program

The deadline for reaching your goal is February 27th.

Language Arts – Expository Writing

Writing an introductory paragraph will be our focus this week. Students will work on how to "hook" a reader by beginning their paragraph with an interesting phrase. We will also concentrate on effective topic sentences.

This year we are lucky enough to have another area school interested in setting up a pen-pal system with our class. Our reading class will be paired up with a student from Miss Steinway's fifth grade class. Miss Steinway and I are both student teaching and see this as an excellent opportunity for our students to gain valuable writing skills and learn about someone from a different school. Students will learn how to craft a friendly letter while sharing information about themselves. Students will not be allowed to share their last names or any other personal and/or identifying information, such as email addresses or phone numbers. Their letters will be screened before they are delivered. If you have any questions or concerns, please email or call.

Mrs. Bell’s Math Class

We have entered the amazing world of fractions! We will build on our knowledge of prime and compositie numbers and prime factorization, and begin studying Greatest Common Factors. Tuesday will be a review for our midchapter quiz on Wednesday, January 28. Students will be responsible for the information learned in lessons 1-3 of Chapter 4.

Mrs. Bell’s Homeroom Class

Social Studies

The British are coming! The British are coming! Our exciting unit on the Revolutionary War will begin this week. Students will discover the answers to questions such as, "What caused the Revolutionary War?" " What's taxation without representation?" Hold on to your money colonsits, because King George, his Parliments, and tax collectors are coming!

Science – Earth’s Oceans

We will be completing this unit with the chapter 12 TEST on Tuesday, 1/27. We will play a round of Ocean Bingo on Monday to prepare for the test. On Wednesday, we will begin our new unit on space: Earth, Moon & Beyond!

Mrs. Karen Bell & Miss Allison Cronin